Kindle App Now Shipping on Windows 8, Windows RT Tablets While the Nook App is Nowhere to be Found

Remember a couple weeks ago when I suggested waiting to buy a Windows RT tablet until we knew which apps were available? The launch of Windows 8 and arrival of Windows RT tablets this week showed just what a good idea that was.

There's been a flurry of announcements this week from app makers and silence from a handful. Amazon boasted a couple days ago that their new Windows RT app was not just available but also shipping on tablets made by Samsung, Dell, Lenovo, HP, Acer, and Asus.

At least, that is what ZDNet is reporting. I cannot find any confirmation anywhere else, so I am inclined to take it with a grain of salt. But I do know that the app actually is available.

Update: But I'm not sure how much that is worth; several readers have commented that the early reviews of the Surface tablet include nasty things about the Kindle app. It seems the app is a mess, and that it really should have been held back until the bugs were worked out. I guess Amazon likes to rush things; their webOS app for the HP TouchPad left a lot to be desired. That app was never updated, either.

But there's no sign of the Nook app for Windows RT, and that has to be at least a little embarrassing to Microsoft and B&N.

I mean, Nook was supposed to be Microsoft's preferred ebook provider. It was going to "bring world-class digital reading technologies and content to the Windows platform". Apparently world-class is a synonym for late on arrival, which would explain why Amazon doesn't qualify.

Rude comments aside, I'm sure Barnes & Noble is working on an app. But this delay also shows that the supposed importance of Nook in the Windows 8 ecosystem was just more marketing BS. Microsoft didn't care enough about Nook to delay the launch at all.

And if the Windows integration isn't why MS is interested in Nook, we have to wonder what MS is really hoping to get out of the partnership. Any suggestions?

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Nate Hoffelder is the founder and editor of The Digital Reader:"I've been into reading ebooks since forever, but I only got my first ereader in July 2007. Everything quickly spiraled out of control from there. Before I started this blog in January 2010 I covered ebooks, ebook readers, and digital publishing for about 2 years as a part of MobileRead Forums. It's a great community, and being a member is a joy. But I thought I could make something out of how I covered the news for MobileRead, so I started this blog."

18 Comments on Kindle App Now Shipping on Windows 8, Windows RT Tablets While the Nook App is Nowhere to be Found

I read the day before the Win8 announcement that the Kindle app was useless crap in a review about RT. I don’t recall where now, tho. And I didn’t think to look for any eBook app at the Asus event. But here’s something I didn’t put in my Asus report: I found an *ePub* copy of Pride & Prejudice already on one of the Asus devices. I don’t know why it was there or what could read it. And I didn’t even think to try and launch it because I was too busy figuring out where a damn downloaded PDF had gone.

I wish now I had tried to launch it. OTOH, ANYONE who encounters any Asus tablet with Win8 at a store can try that for themselves now too and report. Most of the time you can get to the Desktop from someone having used it before, just by swiping in from the left and cycling through what’s open.

Careful reading of the ZDNet article suggests it’s not just tablets that are getting Kindle for Win8 pre-installed on first book but rather *all* (consumer) PCs from those vendors. (I doubt Amazon is going to pay to get Kindle on corporate PCs, but I could be wrong…) As for MS not delaying the Win8 express for Nook, I’d turn the question around: why didn’t Nook Media care enough to get the app out in time? Amazon long ago announced they were doing it for launch day and they had to submit it to MS with plenty of time to get it into the store on day one. My guess is the Nook developers either don’t really care enough to commit the resources to get even a placeholder app out in time.

Amazon, on the other hand, not only cares enough to get the app out in time, they care enough to *pay* to have it pre-installed, bypassing the Appstore as a way to get Kindle before users.

In case you haven’t been reading up on it: the Windows 8 Kindle app is a mess. It’s having trouble synching accounts for people and by default only streams the book – you have to manually enter the options for each title to actually download it.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’d rather have a nicely polished app that takes a month or two longer to develop than a rushed piece of crapware.

>>>you have to manually enter the options for each title to actually download it

If you installed the K app on another PC, was the normal behavior at one time that it would sync and DL everything? I tried that a few months ago and all it synced were the covers. I would have to click on each book individually to download it. Aieeee.

I’ve heard various rumors to the effect that MS is planning on integrating NOOK content into Office. That is, future Office users should be able to buy ebooks and other reading content from within Office with a Windows Live id. Likewise, they will be able to publish into the NOOK store directly from Office.

March 11, 2010: “To be released around the time of iPad’s expected availability, the new Barnes & Noble eReader will join our growing list of free eReader software…” — For those who don’t remember, the iPad’s expected (and actual) availability was April 3, 23 days after the date of the announcement.

April 13, 2010: “It’s coming real soon…”

April 23, 2010: “[The month of] May, though no specific date was given.”

April 28, 2010: “please submit your email address to be notified when the iPad App will be available…”

May 27, 2010: “We’re happy to report that we’ve launched our free BN eReader app for iPad™…” — that’s 77 days after the original announcement, and 54 days after the iPad was released.